


A Child's Heart

by jaron5



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Katara & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Maybe Minor Zuko/Sokka (Avatar), Minor Aang/Katara, Other, Sokka & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, Stubborn Katara (Avatar), Team as Family, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, friendship and family - Freeform, zuko and Iroh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:07:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27755086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaron5/pseuds/jaron5
Summary: Katara is a master waterbender. She's Sokka's little sister. She's part of the Gaang (more like the mother, but who's asking?) She's from the Southern Water Tribe. She's the daughter of Hakoda and Kya. She knows all these things. These are facts. Just like she hates Prince Zuko, which is also a fact. It should be her whole family's fact, but they are too irritating and nice to agree with this fact.But she'll open their eyes! And once she does, she'll be smug and tell them that she told them so (not too smug because she's notthatmean) She'll show all of them that Zuko is not to be trusted and definitely not part of her family. She'll do all of that... right after she stops reading that is.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 53





	A Child's Heart

Katara clenches her hands so hard that her nails pierce her palms and draws blood. Rather than letting herself relax, she grows tenser as she glances over the small unsuspecting note again. 

Fishing? For days? With _Zuko???_ Was her brother an idiot? She rolls her eyes. That last question went without saying, obviously. 

“Katara?” Aang asks softly. 

“What?” Katara snarls, turning towards him. She instantly feels bad when he slowly edges away from her. He looks at her, then the note, and then looks back at her. 

“Um, I was just going to ask if you were hungry? Haru made some soup. It looks brown and murky, but I’m sure it’s fine. After all, it’s the taste that matters, not the looks… or the smell!” He looks up at her, smiling his usual wide smile. 

Katara shakes her head. “I’m not really hungry. And, I’m sorry for snapping at you Aang. I’m just…” her hands tremble in anger again, just thinking about the stupid, evil, arrogant Fire Nation Prince. And now he was gone. With _Sokka._ Her stomach clenches with worry. When Sokka came back _when not if,_ she would give him a scolding of a lifetime. Sokka would be alright, and they had Appa, so even if they were not back in time, they could probably find the two. Though she hated herself for thinking it, Sokka would not be of much value to Zuko, and when Zuko betrayed them, it would most likely be when he was near Aang. 

Zuko did not do anything awful when he went to the Sun Temple all alone with Aang either _,_ a tiny, unwanted voice says helpfully in the back of her mind. 

“Hey,” Aang says, and Katara had been so lost in her thoughts, she had not even seen him walk closer to her. He gazes at her, his grey eyes soft and full of warmth and understanding. It made her heart flutter and her mouth dry. Katara mentally shakes her head. _Get a grip on yourself!_

He takes her hand. “They’ll be alright,” he whispers. They, not _he_. There goes away all those fluttery feelings. The simmering anger comes back. Why did none of them see? She didn’t give a rat-otter’s ass about Zuko. All she cared about was Sokka. Everybody dismissed her concerns, her fears! Zuko was good now? Okay, perfect, let’s just forget the hundred times he tried to capture Aang, steal her Mother’s necklace, and oh yeah, what about the time when he was on his crazy sister’s side and Aang had _died._

Katara had spent weeks taking care of Aang, healing him. She would never forget the horror, denial, and deep gut-wrenching pain that she had felt when she checked Aang’s pulse and it was just _gone._

Katara shakes her head again, taking her hand away from Aang’s loose grasp. “I need to be alone,” she says pointedly. 

He nods, his eyes sad. “I’ll leave a bowl out for you. Come back whenever you feel ready.” And then he leaves her, just like she asked. 

She stares at the empty space around her blankly, before slowly walking in the opposite direction of Aang. She wanders around the fringes of the temple, letting her fingers trail over the smooth, hard, grey walls. It’s so lonely over here, even with all of her family together. It’s why they all slept together (minus Zuko) near the center of the temple, listening to the soothing sounds of the fountain water. She supposed the firebender was too proud to sleep with them, and Katara wouldn’t want him near her family anyway. No matter how much everyone was willing to give him a chance and include him in the _Gaang,_ she had already given Zuko a chance, and she wouldn’t make the mistake of giving it again. 

She’s flicking some pebbles off the cliff absentmindedly when she realizes that she’s near Zuko’s room. Katara scowls. She had only entered into it once, and that was to threaten the firebender’s life. She feels uncomfortable thinking about it, but she shrugs it off, telling herself he deserved it. She definitely does not think about the fear in his eyes and how surprising it was to see him actually terrified of her. It was probably a trick of the light, or the boy was trying to play with her emotions again. Whatever, she wouldn’t be fooled again.

Katara glances at the room again, its wooden door and the small space beyond it that looked invitingly open. Would Zuko have brought anything with him? Anything that might be suspicious, surely he would have taken with him, right? She gazes at the door in indecision. Her curiosity gets the better of her. 

She steps into the open room, blinking away the light that immediately took away the sight in her eyes momentarily, and glances around the deceptively bare looking room. The bed was neat and tidy, not even a speck of dust to be seen. She wonders how a prince could be so good at cleaning after himself. After traveling around the world now, she knows how haughty and prideful some rich folks could be, thinking it was too beneath themselves to even do the simplest of tasks, like cooking or even washing their own clothes. Even Toph had no idea how to do those things, and Katara had later learned that one of the reasons Toph had been so unreasonable when she first joined the team was because she was trying to hide the fact that she didn’t know how to put up a proper tent instead, letting it be two slabs of rock. That could also be attributed to the fact that she couldn’t see, not just because she grew up rich. 

It didn’t help that Zuko had quietly helped her wash the dishes, tidying up, and gathering herbs and other small things with Sokka when she was preparing her food. She didn’t let him near her knives, thank La, or he might have even started cutting the vegetables. She didn’t like him. Not one bit. But she couldn’t deny he was the most helpful of the entire group. 

Katara sighs and sits on the perfectly made bed. She hoped she didn’t get sick, being in the same place where Zuko had slept. Even him breathing near her felt contaminating and made her want to kick stuff and scream a bunch. That probably wouldn’t help with the image her family already had of her when it came to Zuko. Toph had even said to her face that she was being irrational and hysterical. 

_Well_ , Katara thinks, she was doing a lot better than she had expected. She, after all, rather guiltily, still remembers the time where she had screamed herself hoarse at Toph for being unhelpful and selfish. Katara winces as she recalls her rude remark of commenting that it was too bad that Toph couldn’t see the night stars. She had definitely gone too far there and had promised herself that she’d try her best not to blow up like that in front of her family like that again. 

No, hysterical screaming and cold rage could only be directed at her enemies. Like Zuko. 

Katara had been lost in her thoughts again when a flash catches her eye. Near the back corner of the bed, there was a frame that was propped facing away from her. She walks over to pick it up. 

It’s a picture of Zuko’s Uncle, General Iroh. She stares at it, realizing this is what Zuko must have been staring at the last time she had come into his room. Katara quickly puts it down back where it was, feeling like she did something wrong. Then she shakes herself. _He’s evil_ , she reminds herself. And she had every right to be in here, it wasn’t like it was _his_ room. It was part of the temple, one _his_ people had destroyed the people and the culture of. 

She’s furious again. She tries not to think of the airbenders, Aang’s _people_ , gentle, peaceful monks who were wiped out because of Firelord Sozin. If she kept thinking about it, she would break. 

Katara sometimes thinks that the Avatar’s powers are nothing compared to the strength and kindness Aang has in her heart. If she was in Aang’s position, she wouldn’t fare even a quarter as well. She thinks about her people, such a small population now, just a few tiny, beaten down communities. Her family, all those children, wives, and mothers, just gone. She trembles in fear just thinking about it. 

Instead, Katara lets herself fall back into the familiar, simmering anger that seems to always be there lately. She kicks the frame in rage and watches it topple underneath the bed. She glares at it and then reluctantly bends down to pick it up. She doesn’t want Zuko to know she snooped around and come to confront her about it. Although, he probably wouldn’t say anything, thinking the frame just fell by itself. Her hopes are dashed about him finding out as she notices the gigantic crack in the middle of the smiling, kind-looking old man. It obviously looks like a person did this. Katara groans and is about to get up from her crouched position when she hears a loud creak. 

She narrows her eyes at the uneven flooring safely hidden underneath the bed. It almost looked like… she moves her hand and wrenches the wooden board off of the floor. She almost falls from the unnecessary force she used to pull the board because it simply needed to be pushed off the floor. 

Katara almost yells in excitement. She finally had some evidence that Zuko was not what he appeared to be (obviously) and she could show it to everyone. Here, she would maybe find some secret letters to the Firelord or something that would definitely point to his eventual betrayal. She reaches in and pulls out a leather bag and a small unsuspecting journal bound to soft black fabric. 

She first decides to rummage through the bag and inside she finds rope (she makes a face at that), a crumpled brown bag that held some crushed fire flakes, two scrolls that looked suspiciously like the script of some Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom plays when she unfurled it, a sophisticated looking Earth Kingdom made dagger, and two more similar looking black journals. 

And a small, but cute-looking plushie that looked like a turtleduck. Katara doesn’t know how long she gaped at the stuffed creature, but she thinks it’s for an embarrassingly long time. She doesn’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed that the boy she hates and fears carries a cuddly stuffed toy with him. She makes a choking sound instead and quickly stuffs the plushie back into the bag, not wanting to look at it. 

Her eyes fall back to the three journals. She opens one of them to the first page, her heart racing. Could this be it? 

Katara’s gaze falls to read the date scribbled in almost unfairly tiny, elegant handwriting on the front page of the journal. She picks it up, wanting to know how long he had been a deceiving traitor. 

She notices that it was dated three years ago. Her mouth forms a perfect o, as she begins to realize that these could actually be Zuko’s journals, filled with his own awful, horrible thoughts. Katara takes a breath and then leans against the bed, flips to the first page where the words begin, and begins to read.

* * *

_This is such a stupid idea, but Uncle insists. And everybody knows that if a superior or an elder_ ** _insists_ **_on something, it’s an order. At least he said he wouldn’t read it, but I still have to write stuff before I meditate, because apparently, it’s calming or whatever. And I can’t just pretend not to, he would_ **know**. I’m pretty sure he’ll sense me not writing or something, even though he’s just sitting there calmly with his eyes closed. Sometimes I think Uncle is psychic. Even before I even voice my words out loud, he gives me this look like he knows what I am about to say.

* * *

Katara cannot stop the soft snort that escapes from her. 

Even before she actually was forced to spend some short time with him, she knows that Zuko was sort of an open book. Which made it kind of hard to convince her family that the firebender was going to betray them any moment. Still, he could be using all of that nervousness he displayed in front of them, not because he was awkward and scared of them, but because he was trying to betray them. He was awkward, Katara would give him that, but she thought it was very unlikely he could be afraid of them, not when he had faced Aang in the past, again and again, trying to capture him every time, and kept trying even when he failed or got too injured. 

She also can’t help but notice how young Zuko sounded. He was probably twelve or thirteen here. She continues reading. 

* * *

_He also gives me tea. So much tea. I don’t think I had to excuse myself this much to use the privy than I have my entire life. I feel sicker of the tea than the stupid ocean. It’s ironic that I feel like I’m drowning in tea rather than all of these miles and miles of water around me. It’s been exactly a week since I’ve seen land, but according to the maps in Lieutenant Jee’s room, it’s two more days until we reach the Northern Air Temple. The Avatar must be hiding there and then I’ll find him and capture him. Then I can return home._

* * *

Katara stares at the small writing in confusion. Wasn’t this three years ago? Why was Zuko on a ship, writing about capturing Aang three years ago? The Northern Air Temple?

Wait. 

In those catacombs in Ba Sing Se, and oh how Katara hated to remember that time, Zuko has said something about being banished. Katara’s pretty sure his mission had been to capture Aang or something, but she hadn’t really paid attention. After all, when he had said that, she had been too busy trying to untie herself from a tree! Scowling, she reads on, needing to find the answer. 

* * *

_The first thing I will do when I get home (after I speak with Father and present him the Avatar and everything) I will go visit the turtleduck pond._

_I hope Azula didn’t hurt the turtleducks. I miss them so much. Akira and Kimi were just about to have their eggs hatched. This is stupid. Why am I thinking about them? Father would be disgusted. My only thoughts should be about the Avatar and capturing the cowardly old man. Father obviously believes I can do it, even though even Firelord Sozin could not find him. He knows I am dedicated and even if I disrespected him, he knows I am capable of this. And if he doesn’t, I’ll capture the Avatar and make him proud._

* * *

Katara hadn’t noticed she had been grinning about the turtleducks until she stopped and scowled at the mention of Firelord Ozai. He sounded absolutely terrible, looking down on his young son for liking turtleducks. She doesn’t like how much Zuko believes his father’s opinion is right either. She huffs angrily and continues reading.

* * *

_I can’t stop thinking about the turtleducks though. I guess I can still write about them because I don’t have much to do right now, other than train and wait till we reach the Temple. I want to meditate right now, so right after I can start my katas, even though my bending is pathetic. Uncle says it takes time, but what does he know? He’s a lazy, fat, old man just like Azula and Father says. I don’t know why he came with me after my banishment. Maybe he doesn’t want to stay in the Palace. It probably reminds him of Lu Ten. I miss Lu Ten too. I wouldn’t dare say it out loud. I wouldn’t know what to do if Uncle cries. He only did that once, when he first saw me, after he came back from Ba Sing Se. I didn’t know what to do with my arms. I wanted to cry too because I’m weak and stupid like Uncle, but Azula was right next to me, and she would have told Father._

_I named one of the baby turtleducks Lu though, in honor of Lu Ten. I’m sure he would not mind it. He liked playing with the turtleducks with Mother and me too. Hm. I’m going to name Akira and Kimi’s babies- I’m pretty sure Uncle is snoring right now. I’m disgusted and amused. I also think this means I can stop writing now (it’s so stupid anyway), and start meditating._

* * *

That was the end of the first entry. Katara had let out an embarrassing awing sound when she read about the turtleducks and she tells herself that she just finds the creatures to be cute and it was alright to feel that way. Each time Zuko had written about them, she couldn’t help but think about the adorable plushie that was not stuffed in a leather bag. 

She felt disgusted when she read about Zuko’s banishment. How could someone do that to their own son? Granted, he was the Firelord, an inhuman monster who hardly felt real most of the time, but his own _son_? What could have Zuko done that had been so terrible for him to be banished at such a young age? 

And his mission was to capture the Avatar. Three years ago. Katara feels sick to her stomach when she let that sink in. Suddenly so much made sense. He had said he had been cursed to chase the Avatar forever. Oh, Tui and La. He had been looking for Aang for three years. On his Father’s orders. A Father who very likely never wanted his son to return home when he gave him that impossible task. Katara thinks if the Firelord was near on ocean right now, even La couldn’t protect him from her rage.

She bites her lip when she reads Zuko’s self-deprecating thoughts. Firelord Ozai seemed to be being a terrible father with every sentence she read.

She shakes her head at the insults Zuko written about his Uncle. General Iroh probably deserved it, after all, he couldn’t be a good person if he laid siege to Ba Sing Se for six hundred days, but apparently, the old man had lost his son in the war. 

It was also obvious that Zuko loved him. She could see Zuko was fond of his Uncle in the way he wrote about him in his journal, but she could also see how much Zuko loved him now. It was all he talked about, anyway. Uncle this, Uncle that. Aang and surprisingly even Toph had found it _cute and endearing._ Sokka found it to be hilarious. Katara had not been around Zuko like much of the rest of them, but she remembered she had found it sweet underneath in those catacombs in Ba Sing Se when his Uncle had rushed to hug him. 

Katara sighs, rubbing her forehead. She feels like throwing the journal away. She only read one entry, and she’s already feeling confused and upset. But there could be important information here, maybe things Zuko hadn’t told them, such as a way to incapacitate his Father or some Fire Nation secrets that could be vital in winning the war. So she turns to the next entry. 

* * *

_The Avatar’s not there. Only some Earth Kingdom people who made a home there, after a terrible flood or something. I won’t give up. It’s only been a month. I’ll find him. Or her. I ordered the crew to set a course to Chiyeko Bay. There are rumors of some spirit activity, and apparently, in one of the scrolls I read, Avatar Yangchen was said to have meditated a lot there. I must go check it out._

_I didn’t write yesterday because I got angry with Uncle about something, stormed away, and forgot to meditate. It’s so much harder to write right now, I don’t think I put enough salve on my eye, and now it’s all itchy and irritating in that area. At least my bandage is gone now. I don’t know if that’s better or worse. I hate it when people stare. I would bend at them if I could, but I’m too pathetic to produce even some sparks. Even at two, Azula could throw more fire than I can right now. Father’s right, I’m pathetic and stupid and worse than a_ **_baby._ **

* * *

The first time it was revealed Katara was a bender, her entire tribe stayed up the entire night partying and rejoicing. All she had done was try to raise some waterdrops off her igloo’s floor to try to hide the mess she made from her mom after she spilled all her water. She had been five years old. Her dad had been so proud of her, his deep, dark blue eyes filling up with happy tears as he hugged her tight. Reading about a young, around pre-teen Zuko being so hard on himself and a young Azula (she shivers at the thought) reminds her of the first time she waterbended. She thinks if Zuko’s father was even a little like her dad, he would be proud of Zuko’s bending no matter what. 

Then again, if Firelord Ozai was anything like Hakoda, they wouldn’t have to be trying to stop this war from destroying the world and Aang wouldn’t have to have all this enormous pressure rested on his young, twelve-year-old shoulders. 

Katara reads the part about Zuko’s eyes again. She wonders if that was when he got his burn scar. She remembers he had said something to her in Ba Sing Se. Something about the weight of the banished prince? Scar? Oh. He had said mark. 

Her hands clench the journal tightly, feeling bile rise up her throat. She feels like throwing the bound book away again like Sokka would throw his beloved boomerang. Except, she doesn’t want this to come back. 

_You have to keep reading,_ she tells herself sternly. _Don’t chicken-hen out! There could be important information here._

Katara sighs, and then readies herself for more to come. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Hoped you all liked it!


End file.
